


mean, hungry, manic, scared

by PepperCat



Category: Dead by Daylight (Video Game), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Found Family, Gen, Jealousy, Video & Computer Games
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-17
Updated: 2020-01-17
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:40:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22286497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PepperCat/pseuds/PepperCat
Summary: In which Axel finds something that appeals.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 14





	mean, hungry, manic, scared

**Author's Note:**

> ...this is what happens when I'm having a long day and decide to cope by putting on a video compilation of _every single slasher you can play in a horror video game_.

Axel does not get super-invested in characters.

He cares about some _people_ , sure--Jesse, far and away most of all, no question, never any question. His mom. Piper and Boo, sometimes. He cared about Denny, a lot. A couple-few people from before Iron Heights, maybe...

But those are people. Not characters. He actually _is_ clear on the difference. A lot of people don't have a basic handle on presentation and code-switching and masks and personas, and Axel is always waiting for them to fuck themselves up, but the difference between "real person" and "made-up character" is pretty clear, and the latter are basically toys. He does not really care about characters.

He's playing that game where you get to be a killer-- okay, that's nearly _all_ video games, but in this one you're a proper fucking slasher, which is cool-- and he's bored with the clown and the hick and he doesn't feel like playing the rabbit-mask lady right now so he decides to try the teenager. Teenagers. Legion. Whatever. At least they can actually _move_.

He checks the backstory, 'cause that can make things more fun. Very _teenage killers fearing no law!_ , sucked up to serve evil as a single/multiple whatever with creepy masks and knives, he shoves it into the back of his head as he looks at each of them. The group thing is weird, but he should be fine to run with them.

He just--

He keeps going back to take another look at the story.

Usually he'd try this if he's slipping, doesn't have his head in the game. But this isn't that. This is-- he wants to take another look. It doesn't make a difference, he _knows_ that, he--

He wants to take another look and he's not sure why.

He gets _them_. He's sure. He gets each of them--mean, hungry, manic, scared--but he keeps feeling off.

Like he needs to check again.

Like he's missing something.

He shakes his head, picks Susie and starts to play. It's a little weird. It's first-person and all but he feels like he's stepped back, less playing her, more keeping an eye on her while she tries. Watching her get good at it, giving her pointers and keeping an eye on the Survivors for her. _I've got your back._

She does _great_. He's kinda proud of her, no lie.

That's enough to get him feeling better about things. He bounces over to Joey (playtime!) and Frank (not a guy he really needs to take _care_ of, but one he gets), walks Susie through it again, and then Julie. He feels like he's watching her, not being her, same as with Susie, but she's angrier. Like Denny, maybe. Angry and bright and wanting more than she was ever gonna get.

He's got the hang of it now, swaps out a couple of Perks and jumps in.

She's a fucking terror like he always knew she wanted to be, and they play until his eyes are dry and blurry from staring into the screen and cramps are running up his wrists like rusty wires.

The world is full of meathooks and spikes and there's a black chaos pulling bodies up and away and they get _everyone_ , again and again and forever...

He wakes up to the screen gone all red and black and drifting, blurry until he blinks his eyes clear. Reaches for the controller and catches himself, thinking of the Legion. Where they get to go when they're not in the game inside the game, twined tight and grown together into nearly-one, and maybe they don't always get along but they know each other, he's sure, that purity of purpose and hands together on the knives.

Axel's never had that. Not really. He and Jesse are family but they're not on _par_ like that. No-one can be on a par with Jesse, and he counts himself blessed that he was chosen by the man and would follow him to the ends of the earth, but it's not the same, they never got to spend time really together. And the Rogues come through a lot more than he'd expect, but they don't _get_ him.

He picks up the controller, rubs the sleep out of his eyes and ignores the daylight creeping in around the curtains and goes for another round. Joey this time, maybe, he feels like Joey's good for waking up, yeeting yourself out into the giddy red night before you get to go back to your family waiting in the shifting black.

Always waiting, always there.

Axel doesn't usually care about characters.

He's never envied them before.

**Author's Note:**

> I make no apologies, but jeez somebody give that boy a hug.
> 
> (From a safe distance. Through a Kevlar blanket.)


End file.
